Cheese Pizza For The Soul
by YamiPaladinofChaos
Summary: Lelouch x C.C. In her own way, C.C. helps.


Title: Cheese Pizza For The Soul

Author/Artist: YamiPaladinOfChaos (ypaladinofchaos)

Character/Pairing: Lelouch/C.C.

Fandom: Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion

Theme: #1 2 A.M.

It was two A.M. when he finally stumbled into the house, exhausted but triumphant, having achieved victory yet again. The game was pitifully easy, yet at the same time Lelouch figured maybe an easy victory every now and then is good- having to fight for every move on the board was a waste of energy, after all.

He slips inside quietly, quickly, intending to go to bed as quickly as possible so as not to wake Nunnally. Hopefully-

"Ah. You're back then."

C.C. would be asleep. Which she was clearly was not, judging from the light in the dining room and the distinct smell of cheese pizza. Rolling his eyes in annoyance that she had again taken liberties with his money, Lelouch stepped into the dining room, where he saw exactly what he expected- C.C., in her nightshirt, munching on a pizza.

"I got hungry," she explained promptly, to his unspoken question.

"Please tell me you don't wake up in the middle of the night to do this all the time," Lelouch muttered, rubbing his temples slowly, half because of the headache the thought prompted and half simply because he was dead tired.

"Special occasion, and I didn't wake up to get pizza. I do have some mind toward your financial situation, you know," C.C. replied smartly, with a bit of a bite to her voice as she narrowed her eyes ever so slightly.

In the back of his mind, he wondered how she could seemed so intimidating even with a piece of cheese hanging off her lip.

"Right, right," Lelouch waved his hand in dismissal, tired enough that even his wit seemed to be failing him at the moment. Wearily, he slumped down into the chair across from hers, feeling his whole body basically go limp. He should probably have just gone to bed, but with C.C. roaming around the house in the middle of the night, that just wasn't an option.

Sighing, he shifted, arms moving behind the back of the chair in an effort to stretch out his worn muscles out, reclining his head back to stare at the ceiling as he did so. Unconsciously, he breathed out slowly, as if some of his tension was leaving him.

"Tonight was difficult, then?" C.C.'s voice breaks in through the haze of his exhaustion, and Lelouch managed to shake his head once.

"No, just tedious. I had to overhaul the entire plan a few hours before because Diethard just barely managed to get it to us that they had installed sentry guns yesterday. Then I had to hack their system myself while explaining to Tamaki and those other idiots that the plan was useless if they had sentry guns." There was an unmistakable annoyance in his tone, and he blew out slowly to push up his bangs, an old habit from childhood.

"Is that so," C.C. murmured, voice light and almost musical, before she grabbed another slice of pizza and took a pleased bite out of it.

Lelouch reclined again against the wooden chair, trying his best to work out the knot in his back that had built up.

"Here."

He blinked, straightening slightly. C.C. had pushed the pizza box over towards him, in what was clearly meant to mean 'have some'.

"No thanks," Lelouch muttered, waving his hand again in dismissal. "It's bad for you to eat junk food so late. Maybe _your_ metabolism can handle it, but not mine."

C.C. responded by pushing the box a little closer.

Now he was getting annoyed. "I said-"

"Is it going to kill you to eat just a little? You missed dinner," C.C. interrupted briskly. "And from what I've heard, eating pizza late at night is _normal _for a teenage boy."

Lelouch smiled, bemused. "I'm not a normal teenage boy, C.C.," he replied tartly, still refusing to take the box.

"You pretend to be," she responded just as bitingly, a cat-like smile playing on his face.

"I'm not pretending to be right now, am I?" the banished prince said succinctly, an odd smile of his own on his face.

"Indulge me," C.C. stated simply, shrugging her slim, slender shoulders. "I'm not that hungry anymore anyways."

"Hmph." Lelouch sighed, understanding she would not let this go and thus would not go to bed until he complied. "One piece," he muttered begrudgingly, raising his index finger almost defiantly. She said nothing in reply, nor as he reached over and plucked the closest piece of cheese pizza out of the box.

He took a large bite out of it (he was hungry, despite it all), and complained slowly, "It's cold."

"It's been sitting here for a while," C.C. explained casually, folding her hands and propping her elbows up onto the table to rest her chin on.

"You could have at least warmed it up," Lelouch muttered, annoyed, but continued to eat until the entirety of the slice was gone, leaving him with greasy fingers and a mildly satisfied stomach.

"Better?" she inquired, tilting here head to the side questioningly.

"Hm?" Lelouch blinked once, wondering what she was talking about, before realizing his aching, weary body felt more than a little bit refreshed. Quietly, he admitted, "I suppose I do."

"Cheese pizza is good for you, see?" C.C. said, almost triumphantly as she smirked playfully at him. Despite himself, he found himself smirking right back. "Well, I'm going to bed then. You can clean this up." And with that, she stood up, and began walking down the corridor towards the room.

"Good night, Lelouch."

The ex-prince of Britannia rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Than woman..." he muttered, grabbing the box of pizza and heading to the garbage can in the kitchen.

It was only after she had left that Lelouch realized he never asked why she was up in the first place.


End file.
